From: INFORMATION.LAW
Department of Veterans' Affairs

July 16, 2019

Dear Mr Ashmore

Freedom of Information Request: FOI 29696 Acknowledgement Letter

I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act). Your request was received by the Department on 8 July 2019 and
was made in the following terms:

“External legal costs associated with veteran appeals to the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal for each of the following years, 16/17,
17/18 and 18/19.

This is to be broken down into the following:

· Name of legal firm;

· Total amount paid to each legal firm, by financial year;

· Total number of cases by each legal firm, by financial year;

· Number cases by each legal firm, by financial year;

· Won by the Repatriation Commission and MRCS;

· Won by the veteran;

· Settled by consent in the Repatriation Commission and MRCS
favour;

· Settled by consent in the veterans favour;

· Withdrawn by the Repatriation Commission and MRCS and

· Withdrawn by the veteran.”

In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, the due date for a
decision on your request is 7 August 2019.

When the processing period may be extended or suspended

The current due date may be extended by up to 30 days if agreed by you
(section 15AA of the FOI Act). Also, the due date may be extended by an
additional 30 days in each instance, if your request is considered
voluminous or complex (section 15AB of the FOI Act) or if the Department
is required to undertake a third party consultation (sections 26A, 27 or
27A of the FOI Act). If any of these extensions apply, the Department will
notify you.

Additionally, there are occasions where the time to process your request
may be suspended. This will usually take place if a practical refusal
consultation process takes place (section 24AB of the FOI Act) or if a
charges notice is issued to process your request (section 29 of the FOI
Act). If the Department decides that either of these apply to your
request, the Department will notify you.

We will write again when the Department has more information. Further
information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner at [1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

Publication of documents

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log at
[2]https://www.dva.gov.au/about-dva/freedom... subject to certain exceptions, such as if the documents relate to your own
personal information. The Department will advise you in its decision
whether details of your request will be published on the disclosure log or
not.

Contacting us about your request

We will contact you using the email address you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.

If you have any questions, please contact me using the following details:

From: INFORMATION.LAW
Department of Veterans' Affairs

August 02, 2019

I refer to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) for access to the following documents:

· External legal costs associated with veteran appeals to the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal for each of the following years, 16/17,
17/18 and 18/19. This is to be broken down into the following:

- Name of legal firm.

- Total amount paid to each legal firm, by financial year.

- Total number of cases by each legal firm, by financial year.

· Number cases by each legal firm, by financial year.

- Won by the Repatriation Commission and MRCS.

- Won by the veteran.

- Settled by consent in the Repatriation Commission and MRCS favour.

- Settled by consent in the veterans favour.

- Withdrawn by the Repatriation Commission and MRCS and

- Withdrawn by the veteran.

Please find attached correspondence notifying you that the Department
considers a practical refusal reason exists in relation to your request as
it is currently framed.

Please respond by 16 August 2019 advising whether you wish to withdraw
the request, make a revised request or do not wish to revise the request.
It is important to note that the 30 day statutory processing period for
your request is suspended while we undertake the request consultation
process.

From: Alan ASHMORE

I was surprised that it would take 155 hours to process my FOI request. I say this as I would have thought the data sought would have already been prepared for Management in assessing the effectiveness of external legal providers.

However I am prepared to reduce the scope of my request that now mirrors one of the examples you provided, namely:

For the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years:
- Name of law firm
- Total amount paid to each law firm for each financial year and
- Total number of cases by each law firm by each financial year

From: INFORMATION.LAW
Department of Veterans' Affairs

August 16, 2019

I am writing to seek your agreement to an extension of time of seven days
under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree, this will mean that a
decision on your FOI request is due on Tuesday 27 August 2019. However, I
will endeavour to get a decision to you before this date if at all
possible.